What we’re reading (3/4)
“How The West Unplugged Russia From The World’s Financial Systems” (Wall Street Journal). “This unplugging of the world’s 11th-largest economy opens a new chapter in the history of economic conflict. In a world that relies on the financial system’s plumbing—clearing banks, settlement systems, messaging protocols and cross-border letters of credit—a few concerted moves can flatten a major economy. Russia now faces a repeat of one of the most painful episodes in its post-Soviet history—the financial crisis of 1998, when its economy collapsed overnight[.]”
“Talking War And Market Volatility With A Giant of Economics” (New York Times). “‘Basically, we’re in a period where we have had an injection of uncertainty into the world, so speculative prices are going to go up and down in response,’ he [2013 Nobel Laureate Eugene Fama] said. ‘People are continuously trying to evaluate information. But it’s impossible for them, given the amount of uncertainty that’s out there, to come up with good answers.’”
“Short Sellers Clean Up On Russian Stocks” (Institutional Investor). “Most of the short seller gains were made after President Biden said the U.S. believed Putin was planning to invade Ukraine, as the Moscow stock market hit its high on February 16, the day before that announcement…[a]s of Wednesday, RSX [VanEck Vectors Russia ETF] shorts were up $310 million in year-to-date mark-to-market gains, Dusaniwsky told Institutional Investor in an email late Wednesday.”
“Western Sanctions On Russia Are Like None The World Has Seen” (The Economist). “Economic measures to cut Russia off from the world’s financial arteries are the most powerful implements a West unwilling to meet a nuclear adversary on the battlefield has dared wield in response to the invasion of Ukraine. But it has wielded them savagely. No major economy in the modern world has ever been hit so hard by such weapons.”
“The Push To Ban Russian Oil Is Gaining Steam. Here’s What That Means For US Energy Prices” (CNN Business). “‘I'm all for that. Ban it,’ House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said this week. A bipartisan bill, unveiled this week by Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Republican Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, would do just that.”
